And now, once again, we kick the plot back into high gear with an invasion, an invitation, and a journey across all reality itself!
You know where this is going!
Say it with me now!
I present to you:
Into the Spider-Verse!
Back in the Marvel universe, Peter Parker is swinging through the streets of New York, still clad in his black costume and still lost in his own desolate thoughts.
He feels lost.
Despite the reassurances of his friends to Momo the other day, Peter cannot help but shake the feeling that things back in their home universe have only got worse. After all, Strange has reported once more that the barriers between their universes are still up, with no signs of coming down anytime soon. If Cindy had been defeated, then surely those same barriers would've come down now, right?
Familiar feelings of guilt wash over him, feelings that aren't put down by how many crooks and baddies he takes down over the course of the day. He'd even gone so far as to search for the Cindy Moon of his universe to try and make up for it, only to find that she had indeed been bitten by the same spider as he had years ago, but had died from a cancer developed from that bite months later.
The Cindy Moon of the other universe had been parroting his ideals, twisting his morals as if they were her own. She had been wearing his badge and praising it, exulting it as if it were a manifesto, and had turned it into poison.
She had seen him as an inspiration, and now she was running around in another universe parroting his words, and it was all his fault for it.
During this time, Peter would be approached repeatedly by his old friends, that being MJ (who is now training to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and is acting as Peter's unofficial handler), Jessica Jones (who has now opened her own private investigation agency thanks to a foul encounter with the Purple Man, alongside her boyfriend Luke Cage and the rest of the Young Avengers, who's number includes Black Cat), and even Kenny and Flash (who have both joined military bootcamp to become part of the armed forces), but he is too wrapped up in his own negative thoughts to listen to them.
Then, one day, he would be reminded of the date.
It's the second anniversary of Aunt May's passing.
Spider-Man swings away to the graveyard where Aunt May has been buried, right next to Uncle Ben and his parents. It is the same graveyard where Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn have been buried, along with an empty grave for Norman Osborn.
It is a graveyard that Peter is intimately familiar with and has become more so in the last two years. A dark pit forms in his stomach as he arrives at the graveyard, as he reflects not just on the bodies of the people within the graves around him, but the ghosts of all the other people who have died because of his actions as well.
Norman Osborn... Kraven... the Sinister Six... all the other villains that he had brought with him into that other universe, all the ones who died and all the people who died because of them...
Toga... Miu... the Enforcers...
Kasuho... Iida... David Shield... Bakugo...
So many people have died because of him, and now there's an entire world, so very far away, being ravaged by someone who wore his badge whilst doing so...
So many people were suffering and dying, and it was all his fault.
Peter, still wrapped up in his black suit, realises that other people have arrived, and turns to see Ochako, Izuku, Keemia, Momo, Felicia, and Hatsume had joined him. Peter's not the only one who's lost people, of course. Aunt May was important to all of them as well.
The group are silent for a long time, before Izuku finally speaks up, sharing a story that he had with Aunt May after he had woken up from his vegetative state in the aftermath of the First War of the Symbiotes. The rest of the group would begin to tell stories as well, sharing memories of the woman who had helped them all so much for over a year.
Peter is the only one who doesn't talk. He's as quiet as he has been for the last two years.
Then, a question is raised: will they ever get back home?
This is what brings the sombre mood down even further. Out of the seven gathered in the group, four of them are not of this universe, and although Ochako and Momo have no families left in their home universe, Izuku and Hatsume do, and they are desperate to see them again, to make sure that they are safe. What's more, Keemia's father, Sandman, is still trapped in that universe, and Peter still has a lot of unfinished business over there.
But what are they to do? There's no way for them to get back home. The way there is still blocked off, with no way of getting through. So long as the Infinity Stones are still in play, there's nothing more that they can do.
For Izuku, Ochako, Momo, and Hatsume, this universe is their new home.
The group depart the graveyard after a long silence. This is the first time in ages that they've been together in a long time, and it shows in how quiet they are with each other.
They arrive at Peter's apartment where they find MJ waiting for them, having taken leave from her S.H.I.E.L.D. training course to join them on this day. In the past two years, Peter and MJ have been growing closer, and the others have noticed MJ's growing crush on Peter, but his lingering guilt and trauma over everything that has happened continues to weigh down on him, and he refuses to enter into a relationship with anyone. In his eyes, all he ever does is bring misery to the people around him. It would be better if he was alone.
The group stayed silent for a long time, commiserating on everything that they have lost, everything that has changed, and now they were left to wonder how much more their lives would be upended by the seemingly endless madness.
For the first time in a long while, peace fell over them.
It would not last.
New York City came under attack, and Spider-Man and his allies (now including an armed MJ) rush to the defence alongside the likes of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four and many more.
Their enemy is not Doctor Doom, or Magneto, or a thousand other threats that they've come to expect.
It is a horde of Anti-Venom zombies, pouring out of the ether into the city, spreading destruction wherever they go.
The heroes fight back against the swarm of Anti-Venom zombies, but find themselves on an even-footing against the monsters. Spider-Man and his group realise that these are the same monsters from the other universe, and rush to try and find the portal that they came through.
But it's not a portal into that specific universe. Doctor Strange says so to them. It's an entirely different one that the Anti-Venom zombies are using as a beachhead.
Cindy Moon has already conquered an entire universe. Maybe even more. Her campaign for dominance across the multiverse has finally begun.
But then, that is when another portal opens up, and a new figure enters the fray. A figure that takes down a dozen Anti-Venom zombies all by themselves and helps the heroes in stopping another dozen.
It is a woman, in a blue and red glowing suit, seemingly made out of holographic matter, technology so advaced that it seems like something right out of science fiction. What's more, the suit has a resemblance to Peter's old Spider-Suit in its red and bluish black colours, but with the spider at the centre shaped like a skull.
The mask covering the woman's face unfurls, and it reveals itself to be a familiar face to Spider-Man's group.
It is Kyoka Jiro, but not the same one that they know from their dimension.
This Kyoka Jiro is the Spider-Woman of the year 2099.
The group are shocked and amazed at the sight, and then even more so when another person steps through the portal. A woman in orange hair and dressed in a red coat and sunglasses, who greets Spider-Man's group with a smile, much to the shocked faces of those who know her.
It is Kendo. Their Kendo this time, now the new Madame Web.
The group bombard Kendo with questions, and she begins to explain. When Cindy Moon had used the Infinity Stones to banish her from her dimension, she had been sent flying through the universe, and had ended up in the home of Cassandra Webb, the first Madame Web. Peter is shocked at this, as he had watched Cassandra Webb die, but Kendo tells him that the first Madame Web was connected to the Web of Life and Destiny in more ways than just the material world.
But now Cassandra Webb was truly dead, her soul having become one with the Web of Life and Destiny, and in her last years of life, she had trained Kendo to take up her place as the new Madame Web, in preparation of a thread that could tear apart the threads of life.
That threat was here and now.
Cindy Moon of the MHA Universe, designated as Variant PU-MHA, is throwing her Anti-Venom hordes into the multiverse. They've already swallowed several dimensions whole, and are in the process of devouring countless others. All of creation is now at risk, and the situation is growing worse with each passing moment.
The group tell her that they've been trying to break into their home universe once again, but Kendo tells them that their Doctor Strange won't be enough. They need the strength of a thousand spiders to break through the barriers that Cindy has formed around her universe. They need an army.
A Spider-Army. One that they are forming now as they speak.
And they need Spider-Man's help to make it.
Peter is confused by this, and Kendo clarifies that he might be the only one that Cindy is willing to listen to. He's the only one that can get through to her. No one else, not even another Peter.
And the rest of them... their strength will be needed in the struggles to come, if they come with them.
The group look to each other, and then to MJ.
She gives them a sad smile and tells them to go. They'll survive for as long as it takes for the heroes to defeat Silk and her minions.
All she asks of them is to make it through this alive.
So, no pressure.
The group nod their affirmation, all save for Peter. He looks at the portal and sees the chance he needs to make up for all his mistakes.
They leap through the portal and into the Spider-Verse, ready to face the war to come.
And here we are, the true beginning of series four, where we leave both the Marvel and MHA Prime universes, and begin our journey into the Spider-Verse itself.
Kendo being the Julia Carpenter of this story has been something that I've been building to for a long time, but Jiro being a variant of Spider-Man 2099 was something that I didn't know was going to happen until I saw a fanart for the fanfic known as Amazing Fantasy that had Jiro in that role, and I realised that it fit way too well to not include in this story.
But regardless, let us continue on, as our heroes begin their quest into the Spider-Verse, gather their allies, discover things about themselves, and prepare themselves for the greatest battle of their lives...